Right hand language
Lesson time: (5min 5sec)
Paddy gets into the right hand language of the piece. Incorporating riffs from the likes of Jelly Roll Morton, and Dr John. It might be helpful to think of your improvisations as different lead instruments in a marching band.
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This lesson is part of the course Play Authentic New Orleans Piano
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Lesson transcript:
Right Hand Techniques in This Tune
So let's move on to some more of the right hand stuff that I'm doing in this tune. You'll find a lot of this content is similar and familiar from the material we looked at on John.
Right Hand Position
- A lot of this sort of right hand position is based on the 5th and that octave.
- I'm using that idea a lot.
In context, we have:
"3, 4"
or could do it like that. Again, there's that harmony based on that very simple movement:
"4, 3, 4."
Now, I'm changing the harmony at the end to go down to the G and using that riff again to take us back to the I chord.
Jazz-Based Chord Progressions
This idea is used frequently, especially when changing to these kinds of more jazz-based chord progressions, coming down to the third.
Let's have a look at the first chord change:
- Moving down to the third of the chord.
- The third of the G chord is the B.
- We transition from B flat to the third of the C, with a nice little movement to the seventh of the F.
So you're getting a little bit of voice leading in there. You could even go from:
"Yeah, there I'm playing that fifth, fifth based idea on the G."
What I quite like about that is that voice leading is sort of being incorporated into a more complicated idea.
Transitioning Through Chords
So, going from:
"G6,"
there's that riff again based on that octave on the 5th. Going to the seventh E flat and then resolving to the D of chord one for the turnaround.
So, we transition from the G to F7:
- You've got a nice bit of voice leading there.
About the instructor
Paddy Milner is recognised as one of the leading blues piano players in the world - he is currently keyboard player of choice for Sir Tom Jones, following several years with the late, great Jack Bruce - but he is also a superb original songwriter and a distinctive singer. Just read the praise from the likes of Dave Brubeck below! His playing was featured on the soundtrack for the hit 2019 film 'Rocketman'. He has twice won the award for Best Keyboard Player in the British Blues Awards, and he holds a long-standing residency as a founder member of the Ronnie Scott's Blues Explosion at the world-renowned Ronnie Scott's club. His current group LONDONOLA plays homegrown British music with a strong dose of New Orleans spirit, and his collaborative group JAWBONE goes from strength to strength following the release of their self-titled debut album. "I love it... there's a guy who can really play the piano" - Dave Brubeck "I highly recommend it. Somehow things start to feel much better!" - Jack Bruce "The best blues piano player in Europe..." - Blues Access, USA "Impressive & original" - The Times "Dazzling" - The Independent Across his courses, Paddy breaks down authentic blues shuffle, slow blues, boogie-woogie, rock 'n' roll and New Orleans piano - right down to three classic boogie-woogie songs - so you can learn these styles from one of the very best in the business. read more